Solver Basics. Introductory FLUENT Training ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3-2 Solver Execution The menus are arranged such that the order of operation is generally left to right. Read and scale the mesh file. Select physical models. Define material properties. Prescribe operating conditions. Prescribe boundary conditions. Provide an initial solution. Set solver controls. Set up convergence monitors. Compute and monitor solution. Postprocessing Feedback into the solver Engineering analysis

2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3-3 Text User Interface All GUI commands have a corresponding TUI command. Advanced commands are only available through TUI. Press the Enter key to display the command set at the current level. q moves up one level. FLUENT can be run in batch mode or scripted using a journal file. File Write Start Journal File Write Stop Journal A TUI user guide is available on the FLUENT User Services Center. File Read Journal

2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3-4 Using TUI commands Some common operations are aliased to simple TUI commands: ls Lists the files in the working directory rcd Reads case and data files wcd Writes case and data files rc/wc Reads/writes case file rd/wd Reads/writes data file it Iterate TUI commands in a batch file can be used to automate operations in a non-interactive mode. The TUI commands file/read-bc and file/write-bc can be used for reading and writing the settings for a FLUENT session to and from a file, respectively. TUI commands can be used to toggle various solver settings. Add the.gz extension to case and data files to write in compressed format and to decompress upon reading in FLUENT. Sample Batch File ; Read case file rc example.cas.gz ; Initialize the solution /solve/initialize/initialize-flow ; Calculate 50 iterations it 50 ; Write data file wd example50.dat.gz ; Calculate another 50 iterations it 50 ; Write another data file wd example100.dat.gz ; Exit FLUENT exit yes

2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3-5 Mouse Functionality Mouse button functionality depends on the chosen solver (2D / 3D) and can be configured in the solver. Default settings 2D Solver Left button translates/pans (dolly) Middle button zooms Right button selects/probes 3D Solver Left button rotates about 2 axes Middle button zooms Display Mouse Buttons Middle click on point in screen centers point in window Right button selects/probes Retrieve detailed flow field information at point with Probe enabled. Right-click on the graphics display.

2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3-6 Reading the Mesh Components Components are defined in the preprocessor and stored in the mesh file. Cell The control volumes into which the domain is discretized. Computational domain is defined by mesh that represents the fluid and solid regions of interest. Face The boundaries of cells Edge Boundary of a face Node Edge intersection / grid point Zone Grouping of nodes, faces, and/or cells. Boundary data is assigned to face zones. Material data and source terms are assigned to cell zones. Cell Center Face Simple 2D Mesh Cell Edge Simple 3D mesh Node Face Cell Node

2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3-7 Reading the Mesh Zones wall orifice-plate orifice-plate-shadow Define Boundary Conditions outlet inlet orifice (interior) fluid (cell zone) default-interior is the zone containing all internal cell faces (not used).

2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3-8 Scaling the Mesh and Selecting Units When FLUENT reads a mesh, all physical dimensions are assumed to be in units of meters. If your model was not built in meters, then it must be scaled appropriately. Verify that the Domain Extents are correct after scaling the mesh. Grid Scale Any mixed units system can be used if desired. By default, FLUENT uses the SI system of units (specifically, MKS system). Any units can be specified in the Set Units panel. Define Units

2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3-9 Reordering and Modifying the Grid The grid can be reordered so that neighboring cells are near each other in the zones and in memory Improves efficiency of memory access and reduces the bandwidth of the computation Reordering can be performed for the entire domain or specific cell zones. Grid Reorder Domain Grid Reorder Zones The bandwidth of each partition in the grid can be printed for reference. Grid Reorder Print Bandwidth The face/cell zones can also be modified by the following operations in the Grid menu: Separation and merge of zones Fusing of cell zones with merge of duplicate faces and nodes Translate, rotate, reflect face or cell zones Extrusion of face zones to extend the domain Replace a cell zone with another or delete it Activate and Deactivate cell zones

Polyhedral Mesh Conversion A tetrahedral or hybrid grid can be converted in FLUENT 6.3 to polyhedra directly without going through a preprocessor. Advantages Improved mesh quality. Can reduce cell count significantly. User has control of the conversion process. Disadvantages: Cannot be adapted or converted again. Cannot use tools such as smooth, swap, merge and extrude to modify the mesh. Grid Polyhedra Convert Domain Two conversion options are available in the Grid menu: Convert all cells in the domain (except hex cells) to polyhedra Cannot convert meshes with hanging nodes HexCore mesh can be converted using the tpoly standalone utility. Convert only highly skewed cells to polyhedra Grid Polyhedra Convert Skewed Cells Converting Mesh for DPW3-W1 Wing Tet/Hybrid Mesh Polyhedral Mesh 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3-10

2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3-11 Profile Data and Solution Data Interpolation FLUENT allows interpolation of selected variable data on both face zones and cell zones by using profile files and data interpolation files, respectively. For example, a velocity profile from experimental data or previous FLUENT run at an inlet, or a solution interpolated from coarse mesh to fine mesh. Profile files are data files which contain point data for selected variables on particular face zones, and can be both written and read in a FLUENT session. File File Write Read Profile Profile Similarly, Interpolation data files contain discrete data for selected field variables on particular cell zones to be written and read into FLUENT. File Interpolate

2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3-12 Models Available in FLUENT 6 Fluid flow and heat transfer Momentum, continuity, energy equations Radiation Turbulence RANS-based models (Spalart- Allmaras, k ε, k ω, Reynolds stress) Large-eddy simulation (LES) and detached eddy simulation (DES) Species transport Volumetric reactions Arrhenius finite-rate chemistry Turbulent fast chemistry Eddy Dissipation, non-premixed, premixed, partially premixed Turbulent finite-rate chemistry EDC, laminar flamelet, composition PDF transport Surface Reactions Pressure Contours in Near-Ground Flight Temperature Contours for Kiln Burner Retrofit

2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3-13 Models Available in FLUENT 6 Multiphase flows Discrete Phase Model (DPM) Volume of Fluid (VOF) model for immiscible fluids Mixtures Eulerian-Eulerian and Eulerian-granular Liquid/Solid and cavitation phase change Moving and deforming mesh Moving zones Single and multiple reference frames (MRF) Mixing plane model Sliding mesh model Moving and deforming (dynamic) mesh (MDM) User-defined scalar transport equations Inlet Contours of Oil Volume Fraction in a Three-Phase Separator Water outlet Gas outlet Oil outlet Courtesy Ford Motor Co. Pressure Contours in a Squirrel Cage Blower

2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3-14 Setting Material Properties Material properties can be set and modified in FLUENT, for fluids, solids, mixtures and particles. Define Materials FLUENT provides a standard database of materials and the ability to create a customized user defined database. Physical models may require inclusion of additional materials and dictate which properties need to be defined. Additional materials and mixture properties in gas phase combustion Emissivity and absorbtivity for radiation Thermal conductivity for heat transfer Diffusivity for mass transfer Material properties can be customized, directly as functions of temperature, or using a user defined function as a function of other variables.

2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3-15 Materials Databases FLUENT materials database Provides access to a number of pre-defined fluid, solid and mixture materials. Materials can be copied to the case file and edited if required. Custom material database: Create a new custom database of material properties and reaction mechanisms from materials in an existing case file for reuse in different cases Custom databases can be created, accessed and modified from the standard materials panel in FLUENT.

2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3-16 Setting Operating Conditions Operating conditions set the reference values for FLUENT calculations: Define Operating Conditions The Operating Pressure with a Reference Pressure Location sets the reference value or baseline for calculating gauge pressure. Set operating pressure close to the mean pressure in the domain. The Gravity vector is used to calculate gravitational forces. The Operating Temperature sets the reference value of temperature to calculate buoyancy forces with the Boussinesq model. The Specified Operating Density sets the reference value for flows with widely varying density.

2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3-18 Post Processing Many post processing tools are available in FLUENT: Surface creation Display types Rendering options Plots of solution data Flux reports and Integral calculations Post processing functions typically operate on surfaces, which can be automatically created by FLUENT from existing zones or by the user. For more information, please refer to the web-based lecture, Post-Processing in FLUENT on www.learningcfd.com or the FLUENT User Services Center.

2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3-19 Surface Creation Fluent allows you to select portions of the CFD domain, called surfaces, to be used for visualizing and plotting the flow field. There are a variety of ways to create surfaces: Zone surfaces (surfaces automatically created by solver from zones) Plane surfaces (specifying a specific plane in the domain) Iso-surfaces (surfaces that have constant value for a specified variable) Clipping Surfaces (iso-surfaces trimmed within specified range of values) Point surfaces (specifying a particular location in the domain) Line and Rake Surfaces (used for display of particle path lines) Surfaces can be renamed, deleted or moved and used to write out profile files. Example: an Iso-Surface of a constant grid coordinate can be created for viewing data within a plane.

2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3-20 Post-Processing Rendering Options The rendering options in FLUENT allow control of the look-and-feel of the postprocessing plots, including: Views and display options Colormaps for contour/vector plots Shading on surfaces using Lights Annotation of plots Surface manipulation Scene Composition using plot overlays, different colors, shading, transparency Scene animation (fly throughs) Example of scene composition: Overlay of contour and vector plot with transparent walls to show internal details. Rendering Tools

2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3-21 Plots FLUENT provides tools to generate data plots of the solution: XY plots of solution variables Histograms to illustrate frequency of distribution Fast Fourier Transforms (FFT) Residuals You can modify the colors, titles, legend, axis and curve attributes to customize your plots. Other data files (experimental, computational) can also be read in to compare results. Plot XY Plot

2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3-22 Reports Flux reports Net flux is calculated. Total Heat Transfer Rate includes radiation. Surface integrals slightly less accurate on user-generated surfaces due to interpolation error. Volume integrals n φ da = φi A i = i 1 n 1 A φρv da = φi ρi Vi = i n 1 1 1 φ da = A A = i 1 A i φ i A i

2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3-23 Grid Adaption Grid adaption refers to refinement and/or coarsening cells where needed to resolve the flow field without pre-processor. Adaption proceeds in three steps: Mark cells satisfying the adaption criteria and store them in a register. Display and modify the register. Click Adapt to adapt the cells listed in the register. Registers can be defined based on: Gradients or isovalues of all variables All cells on a boundary All cells in a region with a defined shape Cell volumes or volume changes y + in cells adjacent to walls To assist adaption process, you can: Combine adaption registers Draw contours of adaption function Display cells marked for adaption Limit adaption based on cell size and number of cells Refine Threshold should be set to 10% of the value reported in the Max field. Always save case and data files prior to adapting the mesh!

2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3-24 Adaption Example 2D Planar Shell Adapt grid in regions of large pressure gradient to better resolve the sudden pressure rise across the shock. Large pressure gradient indicating a shock (poor resolution on coarse mesh) Initial Mesh Pressure Contours on Initial Mesh

2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3-25 2D Planar Shell Adapted Mesh and Solution Solution-based mesh adaption allows better resolution of the bow shock and expansion wave. Adapted cells in locations of large pressure gradients Mesh adaption yields much-improved resolution of the bow shock. Adapted Mesh Pressure Contours on Adapted Mesh

2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3-26 Parallel Processing Parallel processing can be used to run FLUENT on multiple processors to decrease turnaround time and increase simulation efficiency. Critical for cases involving large mesh and/or complex physics. FLUENT is fully parallelized and capable on running across most hardware and software configurations, such as compute clusters or multi-processor machines. Parallel FLUENT can be launched either using a text command, or from within the FLUENT GUI and run in both batch and interactive modes. fluent 3d t2 will launch a parallel FLUENT session using two CPUs. The grid can be partitioned for parallel processing automatically or manually. Non-conformal meshes, sliding mesh interfaces and shell conduction zones require partitioning in serial. A web-based lecture, Introduction to Parallel Processing, is available on the FLUENT User Services Center.